I was hell-bent on destroying my powers of concentration
While you were living like a saint
And all the time the very one you trusted was washing off
  somebody else's paint

  -- Elvis Costello, "How to be Dumb"




He selects the plainest face from a spiteful row of girls
Elegant insulted women, a flaw of cultured pearls
He drops a name or two, she fails to catch
At last he's met his match
Unspoiled and unaffected, he wants her so much

She puts up a half-hearted resistance,
  like she was taught to do
She's heard some of those small town playboys,
  but this is something new
His promise seems dangerous, she'd like to believe
He says "You'd better leave"
"You've only got yourself to blame, shame, or deceive"

The waiting lines are long
They never get too far
Everyone wearing that medal with pride
Harpies Bizarre

I looked on but hesitated
I failed to interrupt
You're so hard to tell the truth to
So easy to corrupt
I'll memorize your face
Your tragic smile
The hurt look in your eyes
As you betrayed yourself to the part of him that dies

The waiting lines are long
They never get too far
They're shining up their shoes to kick a falling star
You think you should be somebody
But you don't know who you are
Everyone wearing that medal with pride
Harpies Bizarre

  -- Elvis Costello, "Harpies Bizarre"



Sweetest little fella
Everybody knows
Don't know what to call him
But he's mighty like a rose

  -- E. Nevin